Talk:Early life of Joseph Stalin/Archive 1

Ethnicity of his father
His father was most probably ethnically Ossetian (although culturally Georgian). It is important for some, so the controversy should be mentioned. Also there are speculations about Bessarion's paternity Alex Bakharev (talk) 00:51, 21 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Interesting, didn't know that. This is the place to fill in any material without having to worry about size restrictions on the Joseph Stalin article.Mosedschurte (talk) 01:02, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Lost in translation
The theory about ossetians origin Stalin is founded on loss in translation. The Words ДЖУГА no in ossetian language. There is word ДЗУГА In ossetian language. But such word there is and in lithuanian. Can Stalin lithuanian? heh ;) But word ДЖУГА there is in old georgian and means it steel. Stalin was born in Russian Empire and documents had on cyrillics, not georgian. Ж = aproximately ZH but more hissing sound, З = Z. 95.52.118.159 (talk) 10:31, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Name of the subject
I think it is an cheeseburger to name the article's subject Stalin before he has accepted the name. May be name him Iosif or Joseph or young Dzhugashvily or whatever.


 * I fail to see how that would be of any use to the reader. 12.19.84.33 (talk) 19:04, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

At one point I used the name Jughashvili in the article up to the point he started calling himself Stalin. This is what many historians do. But it was an unpopular modification that got reversed quickly.Kurzon (talk) 16:50, 28 August 2010 (UTC)

Last edit
Why revert? There is no doubt that Roman Malinovsky was one of the most famous agents of Okhranka. My very best wishes (talk) 19:08, 27 May 2015 (UTC)
 * I also checked the book by well known historian Radzinsky (ref in the last paragraph), which is a kind of secondary-tertiary source because it summarizes views from many other books. His conclusion: there is no doubts among most historians (including him) that Stalin indeed worked for the Okhrana who intentionally let him escape six times, while his heroic comrade Kamo rotted in prison. However, as Radzinsky argued (and this is just a version, not a fact) Stalin was probably working as a double agent, just as Roman Malinovsky - that's why Malinovsky appears in the last paragraph here. This, however, is not clear from text text of the page and should be fixed if there are no objections. My very best wishes (talk) 11:45, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Picture is not him. Propose removing it.
It's very unlikely that the picture posted is Stalin. His face is not wide enough and he lacks the extensive acne/smallpox scarring that Stalin had. Johnny Wishbone (talk) 18:43, 13 January 2016 (UTC)
 * The photo is used by Simon Montefiore in his book Young Stalin. Do you have a reliable source that says it's not him?--Jack Upland (talk) 20:38, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Date of birth
Is there any explanation why Stalin changed his DOB?--Jack Upland (talk) 20:35, 9 April 2017 (UTC)
 * PS Montefiore says, "Most likely, he moved the date later to avoid conscription" (Young Stalin p 21). That doesn't make any sense to me. He wasn't conscripted because of his damaged arm, and, even if he was dodging the draft, why make this DOB official in the 1920s?--Jack Upland (talk) 23:09, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Paternity edit
has reverted my edit about Stalin's paternity. I have no problem with it being removed — after all Montefiore says it's nonsense and the supposed father was gay — but just to explain what happened: I moved it here from Joseph Stalin where it was misplaced, hence the dead link etc...--Jack Upland (talk) 05:19, 19 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Ah, that explains it. If you think it belongs and want to put it back in, here's a link to an 18 April 2016 archived version of the source. Rivertorch   FIRE WATER   05:33, 19 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks. From reading Montefiore, there were several rumours about his paternity. If we mention one, we should mention them all. And, as far as I'm concerned they're all dubious, and sit oddly with his mother's piety. So I'm happy for them to be left out. I just didn't want to be accused of deleting sourced content from the Stalin article. Mission accomplished!--Jack Upland (talk) 12:43, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Use the modern calendar
Montefiore uses Julian calendar dates in his book, which is what the Russian Empire used at the time. You should convert the dates to Gregorian. MaisonHorta (talk) 15:35, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

Too much stuff about Stalin's parents
Besarion and Ketevan have their own articles and that stuff should be moved there. MaisonHorta (talk) 16:02, 7 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Having a line or two giving the background of the parents is fine. It's not exactly undue weight. Midnightblueowl (talk) 12:43, 11 May 2017 (UTC)